Mary Alexandra Earps (born 7 March 1993) is an English professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

for

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

in the

Women's Super League The Women's Super League (WSL), currently known as the Barclays Women's Super League (BWSL) for sponsorship reasons, is the highest league of women's football in England. Established in 2010, it is run by the Football Association and features t ...

and the England national team. She previously played for

FA WSL The Women's Super League (WSL), currently known as the Barclays Women's Super League (BWSL) for sponsorship reasons, is the highest league of women's football in England. Established in 2010, it is run by the Football Association and features t ...

clubs Bristol Academy,

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

Doncaster Belles Doncaster Rovers Belles Ladies Football Club, previously Doncaster Belles, is an English women's football club that currently plays in the , the fourth tier of women's football in England. The club's administration is based at the Eco Power St ...

, and

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

, and in the

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

with VfL Wolfsburg. Earps has represented England at under-17, under-19, and under-23 levels, and won her first senior cap in 2017.

Club career

In 2009–10 Earps was promoted to Leicester City's first team squad from the centre of excellence, to provide competition for regular goalkeeper Leanne Hall. The following season Earps signed for

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

. She was an unused substitute in Forest's penalty shootout defeat by

Barnet Barnet may refer to: People *Barnet (surname) * Barnet (given name) Places United Kingdom *Chipping Barnet or High Barnet, commonly known as Barnet, one of three focal towns of the borough below. *East Barnet, a district of the borough below; an ...

in the

FA Women's Premier League Cup The Women's National League Cup is an annual English football cup competition, founded in 1991 by the Women's Football Association (WFA). It was renamed the FA Women's Premier League Cup from 1994 to 2018. The first edition of the Cup includ ...

final. Doncaster Rovers Belles signed 18-year-old Earps immediately before the start of the inaugural 2011 season of the

. Belles manager John Buckley was pleased to secure her services: "She has outstanding potential and a very bright future ahead of her." Earps began to play regularly in the second part of the 2011 season, then joined

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of the English footbal ...

loan In finance, a loan is the lending of money by one or more individuals, organizations, or other entities to other individuals, organizations, etc. The recipient (i.e., the borrower) incurs a debt and is usually liable to pay interest on that d ...

during the off-season. After spending the 2012 season with Doncaster, Earps joined

ahead of

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

. In November 2013 she made her

UEFA Women's Champions League The UEFA Women's Champions League, previously called the UEFA Women's Cup (2001–2009), is a European women's association football competition. It involves the top club teams from countries affiliated with the European governing body UEFA. The ...

debut in a 5–2 win over FC Zorky, staged at St Andrew's. The presence of

Rebecca Spencer Rebecca Leigh "Becky" Spencer (born 22 February 1991) is a professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for FA WSL club Tottenham Hotspur and the Jamaica women's national team. After coming through the ranks at Arsenal, she had spent sh ...

limited Earps's playing time at Birmingham, so she joined Bristol Academy for

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

. At Bristol Earps played in all but one of the team's matches through the 2014 and

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

seasons. When Bristol were relegated at the end of her second season, Earps left to join

. In her first season with Reading, Earps won

PFA Team of the Year The Professional Footballers' Association Team of the Year (often called the PFA Team of the Year, or simply the Team of the Year) is an annual award given to a set of 55 footballers across the top four tiers of men's English football; the Premie ...

honours. In June 2018, Earps joined defending

champions VfL Wolfsburg. She made her debut on 8 September 2018 in a 11–0 win over

Hannover 96 Hannoverscher Sportverein von 1896, commonly referred to as Hannover 96 (), Hannover, HSV or simply 96, is a German professional football club based in the city of Hanover, Lower Saxony. They played in the Bundesliga for a total of 30 years betwe ...

in the DFB-Pokal second round. The team won their third consecutive domestic double during the 2018–19 season. On 12 July 2019, after one season in Germany, Earps returned to England to sign for newly promoted

ahead of the 2019–20 season. Earps made her debut for Manchester United against

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

in the FA WSL on 7 September 2019, a 1–0 loss in the inaugural Manchester derby. She kept her first clean sheet for the club on 28 September 2019 in a 2–0 win over

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

, the club's first

victory. On 26 February 2021, Earps signed a new deal with Manchester United until 2023 with the option of a further year.

International career

Earps played for England under-19 at the

2012 UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship The UEFA Women's U-19 Championship 2012 Final Tournament was held in Antalya, Turkey between 2 and 14 July 2012. Players born after 1 January 1993 were eligible to participate in this competition. Tournament structure The regulations make up f ...

in Antalya, Turkey. She won praise for her performances despite England's group stage exit. In July 2013,

Loughborough University Loughborough University (abbreviated as ''Lough'' or ''Lboro'' for post-nominals) is a public research university in the market town of Loughborough, Leicestershire, England. It has been a university since 1966, but it dates back to 1909, when L ...

student Earps helped Great Britain to a gold medal in the

2013 Summer Universiade The 2013 Summer Universiade, officially known as the XXVII Summer Universiade (russian: XXVII Летняя Универсиада), was held in the city of Kazan, Russia, the most northerly city ever to host a Summer Universiade. Over 10,400 un ...

Kazan Kazan ( ; rus, Казань, p=kɐˈzanʲ; tt-Cyrl, Казан, ''Qazan'', IPA: ɑzan is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan in Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka rivers, covering a ...

, Russia. Following injuries to

Karen Bardsley Karen Louise Bardsley (born 14 October 1984) is a US-born English former footballer who played as a goalkeeper. She played for Sky Blue FC in the previous top-flight American Women's Professional Soccer league, Linköpings FC in the Swedish Dama ...

and Rachel Brown-Finnis, England's senior national team gave Earps her first call up for an April 2014

FIFA Women's World Cup qualification FIFA Women's World Cup qualification is the process a national women's association football team goes through to qualify for the FIFA Women's World Cup. Qualifying tournaments are held within the six FIFA continental zones (Africa, Asia, North ...

match against

Montenegro ) , image_map = Europe-Montenegro.svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Podgorica , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , official_languages = M ...

at the

Falmer Stadium The Falmer Stadium, known for sponsorship purposes as the American Express Community Stadium and also referred to as the Amex, is a football stadium in the village of Falmer, in the City of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex. With a capacity of 31 ...

, Brighton and Hove. She returned to the senior squad in September 2015 for England's 8–0

UEFA Women's Euro 2017 qualifying The UEFA Women's Euro 2017 qualifying competition was a women's football competition that determined the 15 teams joining the automatically qualified hosts Netherlands in the UEFA Women's Euro 2017 final tournament. A total of 46 UEFA member nati ...

win in

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

. In June 2017, Earps was called up to England's training camp for UEFA Women's Euro 2017 as a fourth-choice goalkeeper. On 11 June 2017 she won her first senior cap in a 4–0

friendly Friendly may refer to: Places * Friendly, West Yorkshire, a settlement in Calderdale, West Yorkshire, England * Friendly, Maryland, an unincorporated community in the United States * Friendly, Eugene, Oregon, a neighborhood in the United States * ...

win over

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

in Biel. She had her first senior start in September 2018, in a 6–0 victory over

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

. On 8 May 2019 she was named in the squad for the

2019 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup was the eighth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international Women's association football championship contested by 24 women's national teams representing member associations of FIFA. It ...

. On 17 September 2021, Earps was named as the starting goalkeeper in

Sarina Wiegman Sarina Petronella Wiegman (; born 26 October 1969), also known as Sarina Wiegman-Glotzbach, is a Dutch football manager and former player who has been the manager of the England women's national team since September 2021. In her playing care ...

's first game as England manager, her first Lionesses appearance since November 2019. England beat

North Macedonia North Macedonia, ; sq, Maqedonia e Veriut, (Macedonia before February 2019), officially the Republic of North Macedonia,, is a country in Southeast Europe. It gained independence in 1991 as one of the successor states of Socialist Feder ...

8–0 as part of 2023 World Cup qualifying. Having remained as Wiegman's first choice goalkeeper starting in eight of her first 11 matches, Earps was included in the England squad for UEFA Women's Euro 2022 in June 2022. She played every minute of all six games during the campaign as England won the Euros for the first time. Earps conceded twice, keeping four clean sheets, the joint-most tied with fellow finalist Merle Frohms of

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

and was named to the Team of the Tournament.

Personal life

Between 2012 and 2016, Earps earned a degree in Information Management and Business Studies from

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Statistics accurate as of match played 11 April 2023.''

Honours

VfL Wolfsburg *

Frauen-Bundesliga The Frauen-Bundesliga (German for ''Women's Federal League''), currently known as the FLYERALARM Frauen-Bundesliga for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of league competition for women's association football in Germany. In 1990 the German Foo ...

: 2018–19 * DFB-Pokal: 2018–19 Manchester United *

Women's FA Cup The Women's FA Challenge Cup Competition is the top annual cup tournament for women's clubs in English football. Founded in 1970, it has been named the WFA Cup, FA Women's Cup and now Women's FA Cup (Vitality Women's FA Cup for sponsorship reas ...

runner-up:

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

England *

UEFA Women's Championship The UEFA European Women's Championship, also called the UEFA Women's Euro, held every four years, is the main competition in women's association football between national teams of the UEFA confederation. The competition is the women's equivalent ...

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

Women's Finalissima The Women's Finalissima is a future official super cup football match organised by CONMEBOL and UEFA and contested by the winners of the Copa América Femenina and UEFA Women's Championship. Organised as a quadrennial one-off match, it is a w ...

2023 Events Predicted and scheduled events * January 1 ** In the United States, books, films, and other works published in 1927 will enter the public domain, assuming there are no changes made to copyright law. ** Croatia will adopt the eu ...

* SheBelieves Cup:

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

* Arnold Clark Cup:

Individual * The Best FIFA Women's Goalkeeper:

* FA WSL Team of the Year: 2016–17 *

Team of the Tournament:

* Freedom of the City of London (announced 1 August 2022)

References

External links

Profile
at the Manchester United F.C. website
Profile
at the Football Association website * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Earps, Mary Living people 1993 births Footballers from Nottingham English women's footballers Women's association football goalkeepers Alumni of Loughborough University Leicester City W.F.C. players Nottingham Forest Women F.C. players Doncaster Rovers Belles L.F.C. players Coventry United W.F.C. players Birmingham City W.F.C. players Bristol City W.F.C. players Reading F.C. Women players VfL Wolfsburg (women) players Frauen-Bundesliga players Manchester United W.F.C. players FA Women's National League players Women's Super League players 2. Frauen-Bundesliga players England women's under-23 international footballers England women's international footballers 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup players Universiade gold medalists for Great Britain Universiade medalists in football English expatriate women's footballers English expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate women's footballers in Germany Medalists at the 2013 Summer Universiade UEFA Women's Euro 2022 players UEFA Women's Championship-winning players